An exploration of ebook selection behavior in academic library collections

Academic libraries have offered ebooks for some time, however little is known about how readers interact with them while making relevance decisions. In this paper we seek to address that gap by analyzing ebook transaction logs for books in a university library

Competing risks and deposit insurance governance convergence

Why do policies often seem to converge across countries at the same time? This question has been studied extensively in the diffusion literature. However, past research has not examined complex choice environments, especially where there are many alternatives. This article fills this gap in the literature. I show how Fine and Gray's Competing Risks Event History Analysis can be used to tease apart the causes of policy convergence. I apply the method to an examination of the reasons why, from the mid-1990s to 2007, many countries created independent deposit insurers. I find an interaction between international recommendations and regional peers' choices, particularly in the European Union. However, convergence appears to slow under the particular conditions of a banking crisis, regardless of how well independence is promoted. Possibly due to electoral incentives, democracies seem to have been more likely to create independent insurers. Ultimately, I demonstrate how competing risks analysis can help enable future research on policy choices, complementing methods previously applied in political economy. © The Author(s) 2013

Critical Dynamics of Magnets

We review our current understanding of the critical dynamics of magnets above and below the transition temperature with focus on the effects due to the dipole--dipole interaction present in all real magnets. Significant progress in our understanding of real ferromagnets in the vicinity of the critical point has been made in the last decade through improved experimental techniques and theoretical advances in taking into account realistic spin-spin interactions. We start our review with a discussion of the theoretical results for the critical dynamics based on recent renormalization group, mode coupling and spin wave theories. A detailed comparison is made of the theory with experimental results obtained by different measuring techniques, such as neutron scattering, hyperfine interaction, muon--spin--resonance, electron--spin--resonance, and magnetic relaxation, in various materials. Furthermore we discuss the effects of dipolar interaction on the critical dynamics of three--dimensional isotropic antiferromagnets and uniaxial ferromagnets. Special attention is also paid to a discussion of the consequences of dipolar anisotropies on the existence of magnetic order and the spin--wave spectrum in two--dimensional ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. We close our review with a formulation of critical dynamics in terms of nonlinear Langevin equations.Comment: Review article (154 pages, figures included

Scintillation Counters for the D0 Muon Upgrade

We present the results of an upgrade to the D0 muon system. Scintillating counters have been added to the existing central D0 muon system to provide rejection for cosmic ray muons and out-of-time background, and to provide additional fast timing information for muons in an upgraded Tevatron. Performance and results from the 1994-1996 Tevatron run are presented.Comment: 30 pages, 25 postscript figure

Non-Invasive Mouse Models of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis

SummaryAnimal models of osteoarthritis (OA) are essential tools for investigating the development of the disease on a more rapid timeline than human OA. Mice are particularly useful due to the plethora of genetically modified or inbred mouse strains available. The majority of available mouse models of OA use a joint injury or other acute insult to initiate joint degeneration, representing post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). However, no consensus exists on which injury methods are most translatable to human OA. Currently, surgical injury methods are most commonly used for studies of OA in mice; however, these methods may have confounding effects due to the surgical/invasive injury procedure itself, rather than the targeted joint injury. Non-invasive injury methods avoid this complication by mechanically inducing a joint injury externally, without breaking the skin or disrupting the joint. In this regard, non-invasive injury models may be crucial for investigating early adaptive processes initiated at the time of injury, and may be more representative of human OA in which injury is induced mechanically. A small number of non-invasive mouse models of PTOA have been described within the last few years, including intra-articular fracture of tibial subchondral bone, cyclic tibial compression loading of articular cartilage, and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture via tibial compression overload. This review describes the methods used to induce joint injury in each of these non-invasive models, and presents the findings of studies utilizing these models. Altogether, these non-invasive mouse models represent a unique and important spectrum of animal models for studying different aspects of PTOA

The first decade of web-based sports injury surveillance: Descriptive epidemiology of injuries in US high school girls’ basketball (2005–2006 through 2013–2014) and National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s basketball (2004–2005 through 2013–2014)

Context: The advent of Web-based sports injury surveillance via programs such as the High School Reporting Information Online system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program has aided the acquisition of girls’ and women’s basketball injury data. Objective: To describe the epidemiology of injuries sustained in high school girls’ basketball in the 2005–2006 through 2013–2014 academic years and collegiate women’s basketball in the 2004–2005 through 2013–2014 academic years using Web-based sports injury surveillance. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Online injury surveillance from basketball teams in high school girls (annual average ¼ 100) and collegiate women (annual average ¼ 57). Patients or Other Participants: Girls’ and women’s basketball players who participated in practices and competitions during the 2005–2006 through 2013–2014 academic years in high school or the 2004–2005 through 2013–2014 academic years in college. Main Outcome Measure(s): Certified athletic trainers collected time-loss (24 hours) injury and exposure data. Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs) were calculated. Injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to compare injury rates by school size or division, time in season, event type, and competition level. Results: The High School Reporting Information Online system documented 2930 time-loss injuries during 1 609 733 AEs; the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program documented 3887 time-loss injuries during 783 600 AEs. The injury rate was higher in college than in high school (4.96 versus 1.82/1000 AEs; IRR ¼ 2.73; 95% CI ¼ 2.60, 2.86). The injury rate was higher in competitions than in practices for both high school (IRR ¼ 3.03; 95% CI ¼ 2.82, 3.26) and collegiate (IRR ¼ 1.99; 95% CI ¼ 1.86, 2.12) players. The most common injuries at both levels were ligament sprains, concussions, and muscle/tendon strains; the majority of injuries affected the ankle, knee, and head/face. These injuries were often caused by contact with another player or a noncontact mechanism. Conclusions: Injury rates were higher in collegiate than in high school athletes and in competitions than in practices. Similarities in distributions of injuries by body parts, specific diagnoses, and mechanisms of injury suggest that both levels may benefit from similar injury-prevention strategies

The first decade of web-based sports injury surveillance: Descriptive epidemiology of injuries in US high school boys’ basketball (2005–2006 through 2013–2014) and National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball (2004–2005 through 2013–2014)

Context: The advent of Web-based sports injury surveillance via programs such as the High School Reporting Information Online system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program has aided the acquisition of boys’ and men’s basketball injury data. Objective: To describe the epidemiology of injuries sustained in high school boys’ basketball in the 2005–2006 through 2013–2014 academic years and collegiate men’s basketball in the 2004–2005 through 2013–2014 academic years using Web-based sports injury surveillance. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Online injury surveillance from basketball teams of high school boys (annual average ¼ 100) and collegiate men (annual average ¼ 55). Patients or Other Participants: Boys’ and men’s basketball players who participated in practices and competitions during the 2005–2006 through 2013–2014 academic years in high school or the 2004–2005 through 2013–2014 academic years in college. Main Outcome Measures: Athletic trainers collected time-loss (24 hours) injury and exposure data. Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs) were calculated. Injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) compared injury rates by school size or division, time in season, event type, and competition level. Results: The High School Reporting Information Online system documented 3056 time-loss injuries during 1 977 480 AEs; the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program documented 4607 time-loss injuries during 868 631 AEs. The injury rate was higher for college than for high school (5.30 versus 1.55/1000 AE; IRR ¼ 3.43; 95% CI ¼ 3.28, 3.59). The injury rate was higher for competitions than for practices in both high school (IRR ¼ 2.38; 95% CI ¼ 2.22, 2.56) and college (IRR ¼ 2.02; 95% CI ¼ 1.90, 2.14). The most common injuries at both levels were ligament sprains, muscle/ tendon strains, and concussions; most injuries affected the ankle, knee, and head/face. Injuries were most often caused by contact with another player or noncontact mechanisms. Conclusions: Injury rates were greater among collegiate players compared with high school players and were greater during competitions than practices at both levels. Distributions of injuries by body part, diagnoses, and mechanisms of injury were similar, suggesting that athletes at both levels may benefit from similar injury-prevention strategies

Active Galactic Nuclei at the Crossroads of Astrophysics

Over the last five decades, AGN studies have produced a number of spectacular examples of synergies and multifaceted approaches in astrophysics. The field of AGN research now spans the entire spectral range and covers more than twelve orders of magnitude in the spatial and temporal domains. The next generation of astrophysical facilities will open up new possibilities for AGN studies, especially in the areas of high-resolution and high-fidelity imaging and spectroscopy of nuclear regions in the X-ray, optical, and radio bands. These studies will address in detail a number of critical issues in AGN research such as processes in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes, physical conditions of broad-line and narrow-line regions, formation and evolution of accretion disks and relativistic outflows, and the connection between nuclear activity and galaxy evolution.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; review contribution; "Exploring the Cosmic Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century", ESO Astrophysical Symposia Serie

Is the writing on the wall for tabletops?

We describe an ethnographic study that explores how low tech and new tech surfaces support participation and collaboration during a workshop breakout session. The low tech surfaces were post-it notes and large sheets of paper. The new tech surfaces were writeable walls and a multi-touch tabletop. Four groups used the different surfaces during three phases: i) brief presentation of position papers and discussion of themes, ii) the creation of a group presentation and iii) a report back session. Participation and collaboration varied depending on the physical, technological and social factors at play when using the different surfaces. We discuss why this is the case, noting how new shareable surfaces may need to be constrained to invite participation in ways that are simply taken for granted because of their familiarity when using low tech materials